Sometimes I look at myself as not only a Realtor® but as a problem solver, a negotiator and more recently I find myself assuming a role I've had lots of experience with that of project manager. Let me explain further.
On a home where we were representing the sellers an inspection uncovered many items to be repaired, some of them a bit costly and others requiring highly specific actions and vendors to accomplish. There were more than 17 items in total to address. At this point it's very important to keep the sellers calm and to bundle like-minded items something that often agents fail to practice when asking for the repairs to be done.
I served as the project manager alerting several vendors that I've worked with in the past and some new ones that I recently met and trust. I brought in a team of vendors to offer free estimates and to work with each other on the scheduling of these tasks. Something that's key is making sure they don't step on each other and work together understanding when things will be completed and in what order. I'm confident we saved the sellers many headaches. Imagine if they didn't have representation such as a for sale by owner property or in the case where limited services may not have provided them with a project manager knowing vendors, making the calls, running back and forth to the home, negotiating the price and having it done right.
This is just one of our many job titles that client's receive when hiring us to represent their best interests. We were able to approach what could have been a burdensome and tedious job in a calm and efficient manner to get through everything that was needed. We turned a nightmare that happens all too frequently into a bump in the road corrected and not costing the sellers too much off their price.
Did I mention that the home was originally bought directly from an owner who did a real lousy job with additions, electric and plumbing? He sold the home to people who were also not represented by an agent and the inspection, if it happened at all, never uncovered several obvious issues. The new owners had to clean up the mess from the past transaction. This kind of thing happens more than you know. When buying direct from a property owner be sure an inspection is done and that you highlight all items in a professional, easy to understand way so that the seller agrees to do them. The best thing to do is of course to be represented by a Realtor® :)
In future posts I'll try to convey the different roles we assume. I think insight into what exactly a Realtor often provides is helpful in understanding why it's not an easy job and why being represented as a seller or buyer will often save you money and heartache in the long run.
Disclaimer: As always this blog reflects my opinions only.
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